Foaming handwash

Tagged: formula help, surfactants

Hair

Foaming handwash

Posted by Mel55 on July 8, 2020 at 8:00 am

Hi,
I would like to make a handwash for use in a foaming bottle - just for myself, not for sale. I am just looking for something that cleans hands but is not too drying. Could you please advise if I am on the right track with this formula? Should I add some emollients/humectants?

SLeS 20% (70% active)
Cocoamidopropyl betaine 10% (30% active)
Liquid germal + 0.5%
H2O 69.5%

TIA.

Anonymous replied 4 years, 5 months ago 5 Members · 11 Replies
- formula help
- surfactants
11 Replies

Mel55

Member
July 8, 2020 at 9:25 am

Oops sorry, didn’t mean to post this in the hair section!
LincsChemist

Member
July 8, 2020 at 11:18 am

That looks perfectly reasonable, possibly slightly more SLES than strictly necessary. You might want to play around with the relative SLES:CAPB ratios - more CAPB gives denser foam, whereas more SLES gives lots of loose, open foam.

I wouldn’t bother adding humectants etc, there’s very little point in a rinse-off product
Mel55

Member
July 8, 2020 at 8:55 pm

Excellent, thanks so much for your advice.
Cafe33

Member
July 8, 2020 at 9:32 pm

I have made similar formulations as tests a few times and it was not satisfactory at all. Leaves hands very dry, so I would definitely add emolients and humectants. The more inexpensive commercial handwashes available here are a mixture of SLES/CAPB, Salt and Polyquat 7.
belassi

Member
July 9, 2020 at 2:08 am

I agree (Cafe33). For me, SLES has a really horrible ‘short flow’ (draggy, dry) feeling to it. Really crummy surfactant, so common for one reason only: It’s the cheapest.
Mel55

Member
July 9, 2020 at 9:25 am

Thanks all, so what would be your preferred surfactant/s for an inexpensive handwash?
helenhelen

Member
July 9, 2020 at 9:47 am

I have no idea on the proportions of the ingredients but as a consumer with very dry skin, I really like the very simple Bio D hand-wash. I find most hand washes too drying but this one cleanses well without residue but doesn’t seem to sap my skin. It has a nice lather and I also have it in foaming pump dispensers. I like the fragrance free version.. it has no weird smell.

https://biodegradable.biz/shop/hand-soaps/bio-d-sanitising-hand-wash-fragrance-free-500ml/

The ingredients listed on the bottle are:

Aqua, Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Cocamide DEA, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Sodium Chloride

I don’t know why the ingredients listed on the website are slightly different to the ingredients on the bottles…
belassi

Member
July 10, 2020 at 6:24 pm

ALS+ALES+CAPB+PEG7 GC.
Mel55

Member
July 11, 2020 at 7:24 am

Great, thanks again.
Anonymous

Guest
July 12, 2020 at 11:25 am

Adding CDEA make any difference?
Anonymous

Guest
July 12, 2020 at 11:26 am

Could any one guid the ratio between SLES 30% & CAPB which would be helpful for beginners.

Anonymous

Anonymous